Defusing Israel's "demographic bomb"

Israel has long lived in fear of the so-called "demographic bomb" -- the fact that the Palestinian population in Israel and the occupied territories is increasing much faster than the Israeli Jewish population. While Israeli Jews thought the day they would become a minority was perhaps still twenty years away, the evidence is increasing that the bomb has already exploded and Palestinians are already a majority in historic Palestine, as they were until Israel was created.

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Writing is on the wall for Sharon, settlers warn
Extremist Jewish groups vow to stop withdrawal from Gaza by any means

"Sharon, Lily is waiting for you." The message being spray-painted around Israel contains menace: Lily, Ariel Sharon's wife, died of lung cancer in 2000; now hardline Jewish opponents of the prime minister are willing him to join her. The alternative version of the graffito - "Sharon, Rabin is waiting for you" - is a more direct threat. It refers to Yitzhak Rabin, the former prime minister who was assassinated in 1995 in protest at his moves towards making peace with the Palestinians.

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Israel accused of assisting illegal outposts

The Israeli government is guilty of systematic fraud, "institutional lawbreaking" and the theft of private Palestinian land to covertly establish illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank, according an official report released yesterday. The report reveals a widespread conspiracy involving government ministries, local authorities and the military to assist Jewish settlers to build the outposts in violation of Israeli law and the government's publicly stated policy.

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